


Character Development vs OOC Issues in the Buffyverse

by yourlibrarian



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Gen, Meta, Nonfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 02:07:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29850942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlibrarian/pseuds/yourlibrarian
Summary: Thoughts about Willow, Xander vs Spike, and the importance of vampire powers.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 6
Collections: March Meta Matters Challenge





	Character Development vs OOC Issues in the Buffyverse

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted July 16, 2005

Some of the complaints I've read about slash from non-slashers, especially those who are also non-fanfic readers, tends to focus on how OOC slash is. This has some validity because in fact, like a lot of fanfiction, the characterization is indeed off and that certainly doesn't help sell the premise. But the OOC complaint always struck me as a surface argument because there is also a lot fanfic that is well characterized and consistent, and there's non-fanfic writing that is neither. And then I thought of something and wondered if anyone had any examples to the contrary?

The major case study I'd have for how a character can suddenly "turn gay" in canon, is, of course, Willow. However, I started watching BtVS in S4 so my reaction to Willow's new storyline wasn't much more than an Ozlike "Huh," especially since I had no particular attachment to the Willow/Oz pairing. (In retrospect I find them adorable). I also hadn't gone looking for BtVS' online fandom yet so how this new direction actually went over with the audience is something that also passed me by. 

Yet obviously people got over it. Willow remains one of the Buffyverse's most popular characters, and presumably no one screamed "Fanfic!" at the screen. There seems to have been far more upset about her "magic addiction" storyline than her storyline with Tara (I'm counting the whole Tara's death controversy to have been related, but mainly a Tara issue). At the same time there was a lot of controversy in the fandom about the changing nature of Spike's storyline and Cordelia's storyline, with, in both cases, a sizable number of people arguing that the character was ruined by poor writing, inconsistencies, and a desire to force a character into a direction for reasons outside the show.

So it seems to me that part of the upset about slash storylines in fanfic has to do with character _change_ not the fact that the character is OOC. And I wondered how many times has a character appeared in a television series and not been gay from the get-go, or at least, soon after appearing? And once they do appear, in how many ways is their sexual preference not their defining characteristic, determining the nature of most if not all their storylines? 

I would argue that after her lesbian turn, most all of Willow's major storylines had to do with her new sexuality. The whole "magic as sex" metaphor that was used in S4 seems poorly chosen when you consider the light in which it was shown in S6. So was Willow actually a sex addict? Was her early interest in magic from S2 always a metaphor for her "hidden nature"? Frankly, that would make more sense than her unexpected turn in S4, because it would have been something with a slowly building precedent. And in S7 her acceptance that she could not just "give up" magic, but that it was a part of her she would have to accept and learn to control, ties into that as well. 

In further consideration of character development in canon vs fanworks, there are some thoughts about how because fans do not need to spend the effort of building something from scratch, they can delve deep into the heart of the characters."Therefore, the excavation of the emotional world of the characters in the doujin creation can be very profound and even surpass the original work, which is a good complement to the original work.”"

For all I know this has been discussed to death, but I thought there were [a couple of comments David Fury made at the Sacramento Con](http://forums.morethanspike.com/index.php?s=ba4898f4bfe2aa381419b38e3a5724e3&act=ST&f=5&t=3300&st=140) that were pretty interesting, especially as to how some writers saw Xander. I don't think many would disagree that he was often underwritten and this just seemed to worsen as the seasons went on. He had a fair amount to do in S6 but that was mostly due to his pairing with Anya. This seems to contrast with Willow, where Tara is there as an influence in her life but the storyline still revolves around Willow and her issues with magic and control. On the other hand I don't think we get nearly such an insight into Xander. S6's storyline seemed to humanize Anya more than it helped us understand him.

So to hear the following certainly helped explain why his development seemed to die on the vine:

_"At the outset Xander was his favourite as he identified with him. As the show progressed he found Xander much harder to write for as the character had become rather pathetic. He enjoyed writing Spike, Anya and Harmony. He liked their humour and that they had very identifiable voices. Joss used to joke that there was something strange about the way David was the best person to write Harmony."_

I rather wonder what qualifies as pathetic to David Fury since my own take is that Harmony is probably the one character best described that way. She was rather pathetic as a human and is even more so as a vampire given that we never really see her as powerful. Yes, she's funny, but unlike most of the other characters (where it may be 50/50), we are almost always laughing **at** her not with her. And I already [in another post](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6715429) how Anya doesn't come off as a particularly strong or lucky character either. Xander was the original funny character. There's no reason he had to become less snarky. Was this "pathetic"ness due mostly to the fact that Xander wasn't superpowered?

As evidence for this, see another quote:

_Q: About the ending of Angel.  
He loved the end because it made the case that the fight is the thing. However, he had pitched another idea for an ending to Joss. In his pitch Angel fulfilled the Shanshu prophecy but chose to give the reward to Spike. This caused Spike to be furious as even though it meant he could now go and be with Buffy he didn't want it as Angel's gift. Joss turned the idea down because he felt that if you made Spike human you lost most of the interest in the character and if they ever hoped to return to the 'verse they'd want Spike as a super powered vampire with a soul and not a human. **He suggested that human Spike would essentially be Xander.**_ (Emphasis mine).

Given I was a big Spander reader, this quote certainly gave a lot of support to that ship, since many have claimed the reason it works is because Spike and Xander are rather alike under the skin, leading to some great buddy possibilities. Unfortunately while this opinion may have been shared by ME writers, if not Joss, this wasn't a very flattering way to make it for either character. I think having things in common is not the same as saying they're identical. There are still plenty of differences between them, and I don't agree being vampirically powerful is all that makes Spike special. But I seem to be in a real minority there.

To follow on that thought, I know a lot of folks dislike human AU's exactly because they feel Spike or Angel's vampiric nature is essential to the character. (And I would agree to a point, though I don't think equivalents can't be created in AUs). I agree insofar as I believe a human Angel or Spike would be a distinct character from the vampire, but I _don't_ think that means that they would revert to being the historical Liam and William. 

Assuming they retain their memories, I think there's a fascinating story to be told about the nature of humanity versus vampires in seeing one of these shansu-ing. Their experiences would have changed those original human personalities (Angel tells Harmony he can't even remember being human) but I don't think they'd simply lose their superpowers and just be the same characters we know. I think that we get that impression from Angel's behavior in "I Will Remember You" but he's only human for a day and the focus of the episode is on what that might mean for his and Buffy's relationship. I would love to see someone tackle this theme in a serious way but so far I haven't come across anything like that. Maybe someone's done that for Angel, as I see very little Angel-centered fic.


End file.
